Congress confident of Ahmed Patel's victory

New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) The Congress on Monday said it was confident party leader Ahmed Patel will win the Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat as it had 14 more votes than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Ahmed Patel will win the election. We have 14-15 votes more than the BJP,” Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, told reporters.

Yet “the BJP is saying it will win the election. It means they are planning foul play. They are trying to steal votes”.

The Congress has accused the BJP of trying to bribe its MLAs so that they vote against the Congress in the Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat.

Rattled by the resignation of half-a-dozen of its legislators in Gujarat ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha election, the Congress on Saturday approached the Election Commission and demanded a high-level probe into alleged poaching of MLAs by the BJP.

The Congress said three MLAs – Punabhai Gamit (Vyara), Mangalbhai Gamit (Dang) and Ishwarbhai Patel (Dharampur) – were approached by “the BJP and its agents to defect in consideration of monetary allurements”.

The Congress on Saturday flew 44 of its remaining 51 MLAs in the 182-seat Gujarat Assembly to Bengaluru.